Wednesday, 2 May 2012

Player Interview: Tom Whitman and His Blood Angels

A first for you my many fans. Wanting to expand on this blog, I thought I would get the voice of the gaming community, by interviewing players I meet with stories to tell. This, for our first of many interviews, is Tom Whitman.

Tom was set on having a close combat army in some way. And of all the choices, Blood Angels were the ones that stood out. He said: "I liked the idea of Running into close combat, chain swords raised and mouths
foaming at the thought of blood. I had never really played a space marine army
up until now and thought "hey why not make it blood angels?".

"The Adaptability of the army is quiet staggering, with the options for all the
normal space marine. Gubbins and Stormravens ontop kind of sealed the
deal".

He found it simple to get hold of. He said: "Picking up the army was fairly simple. I make a rule of buying the Codex before
a Buy models and giving it a good read so I know what im doing and so on.
Getting My head around tactical situations while play against most armies didn't
take to long". I find myself agreeing with the codex-first philosophy. It allows players to understand their army, and avoid making modelling mistakes like over-upgrading (I realised this in my early youth, when I found out Thousand Sons didn't really use chain swords).

Blood Angels have been a popular army, especially since the new codex arrived, so it was important for Tom to make his army unique by his codex choices, but also to make it look good. This was achieved though a very crisp colour scheme, staying true to the codex. Tom's scheme, for those interested, is as follows. I recommend looking up the GW (Games Workshop) comparison chart where need be (non-GW paints are noted):

1. Models are airbrushed with Vallejo Grey Primer (Poly)
2. After Allowing
to dry for a few moments I then Airbrush the models with "Fire Red" from the
Vallejo Model Air Colour Range.
3. The Models are then given a light
wash with Ogryn Flesh
4. After the wash
has dried I then Highlight the model with a slightly watered down Blazing
Orange, this allows for better application and a smoother finish.
5. The
Models are then washed, but this time with Baal Red, the new equivalent is ok
but i prefer the older one.
6. I begin to fill in the detail blacking out
the Imperial Eagles and sculpted shoulder pads along side weapons and other
parts that are going to be metallic.
7. with a slightly watered down Codex
Grey I apply highlights to the Eagles and Shoulder pads, along side I dry brush
all of the metals Leadbelcher.
8. I then wash the Leadbelcher lightly with
Badab Black along with the Eagles and black details, thus reducing the
contrast.
9. Lastly I paint the eyes Dark Angels green, and then dot them
the scorpion green and skull white.

When asked about his army list, Tom said that he would usually run:

Astorath The Grim

1x 5 man Sanguinary Guard
Squad

2x Man Tactical Squads with Heavy Bolter (One
Mounted in a Rhino for movement an such)

1x 10 Man Death Company Unit (2
Thunder Hammers)

1x Death Company Dreadnought (With Blood Talons)

1x 5 Man
Assault Squad

1x 3 Man Scout Bike Squad (with
Astartes Grenade Lauchers)

Devastator Squad with 4 heavy weapons of various flavours (Depends how im feeling when I field
then)

Death Company Storm Raven Gunship (With all the Extras)

So, what is next for the army? Tom said that: "the next Step for my army is probably going to be more Death Company (only 5
more I think), a Librarian Dreadnought to add comedy value to everything, and possibly a Land Raider . . . to give me some ranged weapons on the ground".

Certainly, it is good to see people thinking well and doing well in the hobby. If you want to be interviewed about your army, or want to discuss your experiences, please do not hesitate to contact me at my NEW business and professional stuff email: matthew.david.davies@gmail.com. So keep your thoughts coming, I am all ears.